Illinois Educator’s Proven Curriculum Merits National Attention

Almeda Lahr-Well may not be a household name, but it should be. This powerhouse educator is a hidden gem whose methods and curriculum should be shared at the national level. Lahr-Well’s resume is a dizzying synopsis of accomplishment, from her extensive experience as an instructor/professor at the university and college level to her international travels and proficiency in five foreign languages. She has taught at Southern Illinois University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree, Washington University, McKendree College, and St. Louis University, where she earned her Ph.D., to name a few. (She gained her Master’s degree at the University of Illinois.)

But perhaps Lahr-Well’s greatest achievement is the small, Christian-based K-12 school she founded 40 years ago in southern Illinois, called simply the Lahr-Well Academy. Over the years, the number of attending students has varied from 10 to 40, and the school currently employs four teachers including herself. The academy’s website offers a wealth of information about its mission, achievements, and exceptional curriculum.

Recency Bias in Library Collection
Management Peddles Porn to Kids

The slogan calling for Marxism’s “long march through the institutions” is commonly attributed to Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, who coined it in the 1920s to spread Marxist ideology throughout the West. In 1967, German socialist Rudi Dutschke adopted it to promote the subversion of capitalist countries by becoming part of the government as well as by infiltrating the professions. Many authors have documented the effectiveness of these efforts in the U.S., particularly in the realm of higher education.

One outgrowth of such endeavors is “recency bias,” or the preference of recent events, works, and experiences over those of the past. Greek writer and lecturer, Kassiani Nikolopoulou, defined recency bias in an article on Scribbr in 2023 as “the tendency to overemphasize the importance of recent experiences or the latest information we possess when estimating future events. Recency bias often misleads us to believe that recent events can give us an indication of how the future will unfold.”

Test Your Child’s Reading Skills

The inability of a large percentage of public-school children to read at grade level — or even to read at all — has been well publicized, particularly since the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores were released earlier this year.

But parents of students enrolled in any school, be it public, private, homeschool, or other, can easily discern how well their children can read by using the First Reading Test Phyllis Schlafly created years ago in conjunction with her First Reader phonics instruction program. A First Reader Workbook and activity book can be used to accompany the First Reader to enhance the efficacy of the instruction.